A 16-strong junior track team will head overseas in the next few weeks to prepare for the world junior championships, which will be held at Southland Velodrome in Invercargill from August 22-26.
The team includes Alysha Keith, of Dunedin, Alexandra riders Sophie Williamson and Liam Aitcheson, and former Waitaki Boys' High School pupil Dylan Kennett.
The championships will be the biggest international cycling event held in New Zealand since it hosted the junior world event in Wanganui, 30 years ago.
"Right now, our primary focus is on London, of course," BikeNZ high-performance director Mark Elliott said.
"But in behind this is the junior track championships, which are not only a massive opportunity to showcase our sport in New Zealand, but also a hugely important building block for our next echelon of riders.
"They have the opportunity to not only achieve international success at the highest level for their age, but to put their hands up as we prepare towards the 2016 Olympics."
The squad had a training camp in Invercargill last month, but national junior coach Ross Machejefski said the approaching winter months made it important to head overseas to gain a solid preparation.
The male endurance group heads to Wisconsin next month for an initial three-week training block with some racing, which has been set up with the help of 2009 world champion Hayden Godfrey.
The female endurance group will hold a week-long camp in Invercargill in early July before flying out to the US, where it will meet up with the male team to be based at Kutztown, in Pennsylvania, for a month of training and racing.
The group returns home at the end of July for a week, before a final two-week camp in Invercargill ahead of the championships.
The sprint squad will join elite riders Natasha Hansen and Katie Schofield at a camp in Invercargill over Queen's Birthday Weekend.
Aucklander Paige Paterson will join the elite women in the US for training and racing in June before returning to join the rest of the sprint squad. The squad will prepare in a two-week camp in Queensland. It then joins up with the full squad for the final preparation camp.
Teams
Female endurance: Cassie Cameron, Alysha Keith, Racquel Sheath, Sophie Williamson, Georgina Wilson.
Female sprint: Kate Dunlevey, Paige Patterson, Victoria Steel.
Male endurance: Liam Aitcheson, Tom Beadle, Tayla Harrison, Dylan Kennett, Hayden McCormick, Hamish Schreurs.
Male sprint: Jeremy Presbury, Zach Williams.
